Published: 15 November, 2013
by PAUL COWLING at WEMBLEY STADIUM

International Friendly
England 0 Chile 2 (Sanchez 7, 90)

FIFTEEN years may have passed, but history repeated itself tonight when Chile came away with another 2-0 win thanks to two goals from their best player.

For 1998 and Marcelo Salas, read the current starlet Alexis Sanchez. The Barcelona forward bagged a brace as England were embarrassed against opponents who they could face in next year's World Cup Finals.

Earlier in the week, Sanchez had dismissed England's chances in Brazil, and on this performance he isn't wrong.

After the match, coach Roy Hodgson was forthright about the result. “Chile deserved to win, and we lost to a better team. I thought they played very well,” said Hodgson.

England had actually started brightly. They tore into the Chilean defence from the off, and an early chance fell to Phil Jones, whose powerful header was pushed over bar by the Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

Bravo got behind everything that England could throw at him. He punched shots away, and his pin-point distribution always allowed Chile to catch England on the break.

This they did on seven minutes. England looked to have cleared the ball, but they hadn't.
Eugenio Mena's left wing cross should still have been dealt with by Leighton Baines, but Sanchez stole in front of the Everton left-back to send a low header past Fraser Forster in the England goal.

Forster – one of three debutants in Hodgson's experimental line-up – was blameless for both the visitors' goals, and he had a decent game overall.

The other two newcomers were the Southampton pairing of Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana.

Rodriguez should have been taken off after twenty minutes instead of on 57 – he was that poor – though Lallana had a promising game to suggest he has an international future. Lallana, almost scored towards the end of the first half, but his well struck shot was deflected wide for a corner.

England were unfortunate to be going in at half time 1-0 down. Lampard had stung Bravo's fingers with a delicious free kick, while Arsenal's Jack Wilshere fired in a snap shot. The Arsenal man had a solid game in midfield, and lasted 70 minutes before being replaced by Tom Cleverley.

With England struggling to create any clear-cut chances, Hodgson also brought on the Tottenham pair of Jermain Defoe and Andros Townsend, but neither could spark a revival.

Though Chile were less adventurous in the second half, they didn't have to be – their defence held firm with a mixture of parked bus and hoofball.

The remaining minutes were played out to a mix of boos from England supporters and olés from the Chilean fans who were starting to jig their way to victory.

In injury time,  and with the home crowd filtering out of the stadium, Gary Cahill carelessly conceded possession to Sanchez, who cooly lifted the ball over Forster to make it 2-0 to Chile.

“We have to learn from the game,” said a downbeat Hodgson, after the match.

He admitted a more experienced line-up will take the field against Germany on Tuesday.

“Joe Hart will start the game against Germany, as will the bulk of the players who have been playing in qualifying and didn't play. "They will play on Tuesday if fit.”

Experienced players or not. England are up against Germany. The gulf in class, and quality of squad is obvious.

When Tom Cleverley and Jordan Henderson were coming off the bench for England, the Germans (who drew 1-1 with Italy) were able to replace André Schurrle and Mario Gotze with Marco Reus and Arsenal's Mesut Osil.

If England fans thought the 4-1 thrashing at the 2010 World Cup Finals was chastening enough, Tuesday night's match-up with Germany could very well be an embarrassing mismatch. Time for England fans to hide behind their Wembley seats or their sofas.

England: Forster, Johnson, Baines, Milner (Defoe 66), Cahill, Jones (Smalling 57), Wilshere (Cleverley 71), Lampard (Henderson 71), Lallana (Barkley 77), Rooney, Rodriguez (Townsend 57). Subs not used: Ruddy, Cole, Gibbs, Jagielka, Hart.
Attendance: 62,953